WATCH OUT FOR SCAMS IN THE BORDER THAILAND - CAMBODIA

I wish my first blog post about Cambodia was something incredibly beautiful but I have to tell you about my story so you don't pass thru the same situation. 

I booked my bus ticket from Bangkok to Siem Reap in one of those zillions agencies in Khao San Road for 8 dollars, a pretty good deal. I was by myself and nothing to fear, I was booking thru a physical agency and all my friends told me how easy is to get a cambodian visa in the border for 30 bucks. (The agency I booked my ticket is called: Lampoo Travel & Tours; Address: 42 Viengtai Hotel Rambuttri Rd. Banglumpoo Bangkok 10200)

LET'S GO TO CAMBODIA!

Hey guys!! 

You might be wondering what's going on, the free bird girl doesn't travel anymore? Nahhh. Traveling is my passion, how is supposed to live without passion? 

My trip to Asia - my fave continent - is around the corner and as always, I leave everything for the last day, including the plan. Ok, we all know by now I simply don't plan, I read some blog posts from travelers fellows and write down some tips. I don't really like to read all information because my expectations will be high and also, I love to be surprised in all places I visit :)

MAGICAL CHRISTMAS LIGHTS IN LISBON

Christmas is not a big deal for me but I'm still fascinated by the smell, lights, smiles and joy. I don't really care for gift swapping because I don't like the feeling of obligation, I dislike spend a whole afternoon looking por possible gifts for my friends and family. It's too much pressure! When I'm inspired I make some gifts but I need time and motivation. I still give my beloved ones presents but I do it during the year, when I come back from a trip or simply when I'm walking and I find something I know that person will love and need. I probably should buy the gift and wait for Christmas but I can't wait to see the person reaction :D Maybe next year I'll do it differently and just give my gifts away in Christmas time. 

TEN CITIES I WOULDN'T LIVE

Even though I'm not a city person I collected ten cities I'd live for one year and now, one year later, I'm living in Lisbon, one of the cities in my list. Does it mean I will try all of them? 

When I travel I enjoy to visit mountains, sea and cities. I believe all places in the World have something beautiful to show you and teach you. My love for cities are mostly building architecture, especially historical or with an unique design (Hello Gaudí), parks, events & activities and PEOPLE. For example I really enjoy New York's people: cultural diversity, good vibe, smiley and friendly, inspiring clothing with unique styles... Well, at least this was my experience. 

During my trips I experienced cities I fell at home whenever I got there (San Diego, USA or Curitiba, Brazil) and some cities I wanted to get out there as soon as possible. All of these cities I'm listing here have their great qualities but they aren't good enough for me to pack my stuff and move. 

New Delhi :: India

SAPA: THE STUNNING HIGHLANDS OF VIETNAM WITH A SPECIAL TRIBE

For the first time in my solo backpacking trip I was craving to be alone. It sounds silly because I'm traveling solo but as a matter of fact during those almost 3 months traveling I had mostly of the time company: either I was couchsurfing or connected with a traveler(s) in the bus or met friendly locals. 

It was the last week of the year (2011) and I wanted to be alone to reflect about my life, to try to organize my mind with all these last weeks of learning and meeting new people who gave me interesting information that would change my life forever. 

ONE WEEK IN HANOI (VIETNAM)

Vietnam belongs to the group of countries that was not in my travel list but I ended up there because so many travelers tell great stories about it so I had to go check. 

This time I had the hard decision of one entire month in Vietnam or 15 days in Vietnam and 15 days in Cambodia... I picked the first option since I didn't want to rush in my solo backpacking trip, I wanted to travel slow and emerge in the culture. Also, Vietnam is not big but is really long and I only travel by land inside the countries so I had no option :) Now a days I understand why I didn't go to Cambodia (on my travel list since ever): to go with my best friend Ana, we will probably spend our birthdays in a cambodian island next year. 

EIGHT THINGS I STILL WANT TO DO THIS SUMMER

It's true that Fall is around the corner (10 days left already?), my favorite season. But there are still few things I wanna do Summer 2015. 

Here goes a list:

(Could also be a list of things to do in South Portugal) 

1. Explore an island 

We have paradise islands in South of Portugal that I never been before. It's incredible I have been in Highway 1 in USA but some incredible spots closed to my hometown never been seen by me. I have been in Armona (in this picture) with ocean in one part of the island and river water in the other. Now I want to spend all day in Ilha Deserta (Desert Island) walking around and relaxing. Look at this crystal water wow!

LIVING SIMPLE IN LAOS VILLAGES

Exploring is my favorite thing to do while traveling. But exploring small villages is the best of the best. Usually tourists didn’t find out about them so the essence of the place is not changed. But hey we need hostels to sleep so good thing there are a bit of tourists there :P

I talked before of Laos Towns so now it’s time to know more of my feelings about Laos villages. Sorry if I completly forgot the villages’ names I have been but there are plenty to choose from. I went to a travel agency in Luang Prabang and checked all tours and wrote down the villages names ;) I booked my bus to Vietnam with this agency so I was able to leave my big backpack and bring only a small bag with essential stuff for a week. It’s so awesome to travel ultra light!

THAT YEAR I LIVED IN UNITED STATES

My USA Photo Album was lost for years, I emptied my house before leaving to Central America and left all boxes in my grandma’s basement. It’s true that I’m in a forever process of simplicity and live with less but there are few things you just can’t get ride – Memories. I saved all my USA Year pictures in 4 Cds, I always found cds safer then usb sticks… countless all college documents and works I lost in floppy disks and usb sticks pffff. I couldn’t find them in all boxes, everytime I’d go get something from the basement I’d look for the damn cds but never sucessful until last month.

These cds are not only my life in USA, also contains my travels in Toronto, Jamaica, Rio de Janeiro and that East Coast Road Trip I will never forget. Since my memory sucks I refuge myself in digital images so you can imagine how over the moon I was when finally found this little huge treasure.

THINGS TO DO IN FARO [PORTUGAL]

Low Cost flights with Ryanair brought even more tourism to the South of Portugal, where I grew up. The airport is situated in Faro, capital of Algarve (province of the very South of Portugal), so many people stay for one or two days to visit, before heading to the touristic towns: Albufeira and Portimão.

I studied 4 years in Faro University so I know well the streets and lifestyle of this city. I’m going to be honest here: I don’t like Faro. Everytime someone ask me what to do 4 or 5 days in Faro I have no clue, since I think one entire day is more then enough. Thru my eyes the city is not pretty but there’s always some spots you gotta visit and experiences you gotta take everywhere you go.

LUANG PRABANG AND VAN VIENG [LAOS, ASIA]

Last month I went thru all my travel photo folders and found out there are several countries I never talked about here in the blog. If you click Destinations Category and then Asia you’ll find out I didn’t post much about asian countries and the reason is that I backpacked Asia 7 months in 2011 + 2012 and this blog born in 2013 after my Central America trip. I just can’t keep these amazing World pictures in folders I want to have them in my blog, I want to share them with you and the World.

This being said, Laos is one of those countries I didn’t mention here yet. But how? This is the purest and more genuine asian country, it was such a relief from all the crazy traffic and busy life in Bangkok. Actually I was only two weeks or so in Thailand when I woke up and decided to get a bus ticket to Vientiane, capital of Laos. I was dying to explore North Thailand but I can’t explain, I think Laos was calling me. But I fell asleep in the bus and missed Vientiane, when I woke up I was surrounded by giant green mountains and curvy roads, I was heading to Vang Vieng. “Hmmm? Never heard about that place!”

ECUADOR CITIES ::CUENCA::

Cuenca could easily be part of my Ten Cities I’d live for 1 Year List. It’s a laid back town with low buidings, life here goes slow and with the flow. I had a great feeling wondering in the streets of Cuenca with no plans or destination. We got so evolved that we didn’t visit the touristic attractions around the city like Incapirca (Ecuador’s largest inca ruins) and Chorro de Giron (beautiful nature hiking) . Oh does it mean I gotta come back? :D Great excuse Marta!

FIVE TOURS YOU GOTTA TAKE IN SOUTH AMERICA

If you are around for a while you know I’m the kind of backpacker who will try my best to go everywhere by myself: find out how locals get there and try to do the same, usually spend way less money and is more fun. But I have to agree that if you don’t have much time in your vacation you better go on a tour to certain places… And sometimes you don’t have a choice, you have to book a tour to visit that place.

This is a list of places you cannot miss while traveling South America. We were on a budget and still managed to pay for some tours and we aren’t a tad regreating. You know what? I’d do it all over again!

MOROCCO: MY FIRST TIME IN AFRICA

Last year, exactly this same time, me and Bruno were backpacking and hitch hiking in Morocco for 5 weeks. This is our almost neighbor country and we didn’t have the chance to visit? That’s it, let’s go in the beggining of 2014, our first travel of the year.

The cool part of Morocco is that you can go by boat so we didn’t have an exact date. We decided to leave 2 days before, it was weird. Basically we packed a mini backpack, our friends drove us to Faro for a drink at night. We partied until 6am and left to Spain by bus to then get a ride from a ride sharing website to Algiras port. We arrived Morocco late afternoon, a completly different continent, actually my first time touching Africa.

ECUADOR CITIES: QUITO

In our travel plans (which are always changing a bit here and a bit there) we didn’t expect to travel one month and an half in Colombia, since we only had 4 months in South America. The truth is Colombia is huge and once we started traveling to the North we had no way back so we traveled in a circle and visited pretty much all the most important and beautiful places in Colombia.

WEBSITES WITH FREE AND CHEAP STUFF TO DO IN SAN FRANCISCO

San Francisco is not a cheap place to live at all, but is on my Ten Cities I'd live for a Year List because I'm into the lifestyle, the atmosphere, a place for artists to express themselves, multicultural, the diversity: beach, bay, wildness and city. You probably need a well paid salary to afford to live in this city but it's so worth it!

For travelers who will spend a long time in San Francisco and want to be part of the city instead of spending 2 weeks visiting touristic spots, this post is for you :) Also for those people who just moved to San Francisco and is a little broke or don't know what to do, this post is for you! Actually this post is for anyone who wants to go to San Francisco or just fancy the city. Ready to write some notes?

I'M A DEATH ROAD SURVIVOR!!

I'm not sure if you have heard about the Most Dangerous Road in the World. This sounds silly because how do you know is the most dangerous? Are there many accidents? Did a lot of people died there? To be honest, so far, I never seen more dangerous roads then Nepal's. The kind of road that is so tiny that you wonder how is it possible 2 cars passing thru at the same time? Or the ones with many deep holes. Or worse, that ones you look thru the window and you think "We are going to fall anytime" Then you close your eyes, you take 3 deep breathes and start thinking about something else. It's an adventure riding buses in Nepal my friends, but so worth it!

But today I'm not here to talk about Nepal. I still have a bunch of South America stories and tips to tell you about. During our trip I didn't hear anything about The Death Road close to La Paz, Bolivia. One day I was bored in a boat trip and asked a backpacker his Bolivia Travel Book. I found out there was a road from La Cumbre until Coroico that we couldn't miss, because of the high green mountains and beautiful scenery. I kept that in mind.

MY LAST SOUTH AMERICA TRIP MOMENTS IN PICTURES

Hello beautiful people!

I feel like the worst blogger in the World, being silence for so long, when I have so much to tell you and amazing travel pictures to share. No excuses but I really wanted to enjoy the very last weeks of my South America trip, so yeah, I'm back in Portugal after 6 months backpacking the Americas. Also I don't have a computer so I couldn't type anything during long bus trips to copy/paste into a blog post.

I have zillion ideas for blog posts and they are all written for later with great tips for your South America adventure one day and stunning nature and colonial cities to show you but the next days I'll be focusing in this blog organization. I have this big need of organizing my content to be more visible and easy to find. Get ready because I'm super excited.

Today I'd like to share some photos of this last month of travelling. I can tell you it was pretty intense, we'd stay max. 3 days in the same spot. Basically we were in Cuenca (Ecuador) and had to arrive by land São Paulo in less then 6 weeks! If you go to a map you will see the large distance :)

This was our Welcome to Bolivia, wow couldn't be better. A lot of travelers I met on the road said their favorite country in South America is Bolivia and now I understand why! In the other hand these travelers told us about the rudeness of bolivians and we felt it in the first hour in Copacabana.

CULTURAL SHOCK PART II - PERU AND BOLIVIA

The Death Road downhill biking. I will tell you more about this crazy experience soon :)

Oh Bolivia. We have been in Bolivia for a while now and if in the very beggining I felt like packing all my stuff and get the first flight back to Portugal, now that we are leaving soon, I don't want to. I wanna stay longer, exploring the corners of this incredible country.

In this whole South America trip, I was super excited about Peru and Bolivia, I don't really have a reason for this, I guess all the pretty places and indigenous people I used to read and watch in National Geographic caught my heart.

ENTERING MACHU PICCHU: STEP BY STEP

Hello buddies directly from Cuzco, Peru!

I have been in Cuzco for 2 weeks now volunteering in an hostel, exploring the place and the Sacred Valley. You can't imagine how much I needed to settle down just for a while, backpacking and moving every 4 days is so tiring sometimes. Arriving a village at 6 am when you just been in a bus for 12 hours, barely sleeping. Sometimes it takes hours to find an hostel that fits in our budget. This is a backpacker's life and like anything in the World with the positive and negative sides.

Cuzco is the town that usually travelers stay to get to Machu Picchu. What a wonderful town! You should consider to take at least one week in this area, it's surreal. But in this post I want to tell you how you can get in Machu Picchu, since is not that easy.